A campaign plan overtaken by a desire to disentangle from the Middle East
Iraq
The Meaning of al-Qaeda’s Alarming Baghdad Jailbreak
Why Iraq could become Obama’s next big foreign policy crisis
10 Years After the Fall of Baghdad: A Cautionary Tale
TIME International Editor Bobby Ghosh recalls a harrowing experience in Saddam Hussein’s occupied palace. Ghosh was TIME’s Baghdad bureau chief from 2006-2011.
John Kerry Drops Into Iraqi Tumult 10 Years After Invasion
Kerry visits Baghdad to mark the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and to push Baghdad not to help Iran arm Syria’s Assad
Iraq: Ten Years After
The U.S. invaded Iraq 10 years ago Tuesday…
Iran Progress=Bad News for Neocons
We should be very careful about predicting good news when it comes to negotiations with the Iranians. We’ve come close to making deals in the past–remember Ronald Reagan sending his national security adviser to Tehran with a cake and a Bible–and the Supreme Leader has always skittered away. And so I’m suspicious that the current …
Inside Obama’s World: The President talks to TIME About the Changing Nature of American Power
In an exclusive interview with TIME’s Fareed Zakaria, President Obama opens up on Iran, Afghanistan, China and the challenges the U.S. faces in navigating a rapidly changing world. A full transcript of their conversation follows
WW W. D?
Regular Swamp readers will have noticed that I have been on a bit of a hiatus of late. My mother died suddenly and two weeks ago. While I’m still immersed in family issues, I couldn’t watch the flood of GOP responses to President Obama’s speech on Libya go through my inbox unremarked. I received statement after statement hammering …
Morning Must Reads: Duck
Former U.S. Air Force Major Michael D. Almy hugs Speaker Nancy Pelosi after she signed legislation repealing the military policy law during a ceremony December 21, 2010 in Washington, DC. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
–The Senate will ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty today and President Obama will sign the repeal of …
Morning Must Reads: Rouse
–President Obama will make a “personnel announcement” at 11:05 am from the East Room (Spoiler: As Michael noted, Emanuel is out and Pete Rouse is replacing him.)
—Ezra Klein has a thorough primer/link dump on the soon-to-be chief of staff.
–Max Boot critiques Bob Woodward’s “Obama’s Wars” as too far removed from the …
Blame the Messenger
Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson joins Hillary Clinton and the chorus blaming the media for Rev. Terry Jones today, arguing that by covering the would-be Koran desecrator we enabled the creation of “something new, something that will be studied for generations: the propaganda of the idiotic gesture.”
On the contrary, the …
Morning Must Reads: Oval
–President Obama will address the nation from the Oval Office tonight on the end of combat operations in Iraq. Crowley provides some good context of the challenges the speech presents. Marc Ambinder engages in some (informed) speculation on what he’ll say. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs makes it sound like it will be a pivot from Iraq …
Welcome, Mark Thompson!
Swamplanders may have noticed a post from a new name this afternoon, TIME’s National Security correspondent extraordinaire Mark Thompson.
Mark is a Pulitzer Prize winner for his 1985 Fort Worth Star-Telegram five-part story about a design flaw in Bell helicopters that went uncorrected for a decade and claimed 250 lives during that …